DA clears officer who shot armed CSU student in his Fort Collins home

Oct. 10, 2013

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The Fort Collins police officer who entered a CSU student’s home and shot him, after the student pointed a gun at officers, has been cleared, according to the Larimer County District Attorney’s Office.

Jordan Tyler Koehn, 24, a chemistry PhD candidate at Colorado State University, was critically injured after he was shot multiple times at his apartment on the 3500 block of Stover Street, where officers were called on a report he was suicidal. Officer Brinton Deighton remains on administrative leave because of the shooting investigation but is expected to return to duty soon, according to Fort Collins Police Services.

Police on Sept. 29 received a call from Koehn’s family and learned he had been drinking and was suicidal. Officers went to the apartment and knocked, but nobody answered despite his car being there.

Police got a maintenance man to unlock the door. Deighton and another officer went inside to find Koehn lying on the floor, with his upper body behind a kitchen wall. They ordered Koehn to show both hands, and Koehn began to “giggle or chuckle” during the commands, according to the report.

He lunged away and when his hands came back in view, he was holding a semi-automatic handgun. He put the gun to his head and then moved it around before pointing it at officers. Concerned for his own safety and that of his fellow officer, Deighton shot Koehn three times, according to the DA.

“A reasonable person in the position of Officer Deighton would have been in fear of being shot and killed by Jordan Koehn. Further, a reasonable person would also have feared that the other officers present were also in danger of being shot and killed,” the DA’s Office said.